The Wilson Family

New Years Eve 2011

2012-01-01T21:13:00.000-08:00

Rick and I had a wonderful New Years Eve this year with friends. Emilee is spending the weekend with her grandparents so we are enjoying some alone time and getting a lot of rest and relaxation before we both go back to work and grad school this week. For New Years Eve we celebrated with some friends by having dinner at Caper's and then going to the Seach's house and ringing in 2012!

Andrea and Matt

Rick and Me

Dustin and Jennifer

Me and Andrea

The whole group at Caper's

Rick and Me again

Me and Andrea again

Rick being handsome

I love my husband!

The guys at dinner

We were cracking up about something

Rick being silly

Silly guys!

We had a wonderful night laughing hysterically with our wonderful friends - I could not ask for a better New Years Eve! Emilee is enjoying getting spoiled all weekend, she went to see a movie today and she loved that. Although I know she is having fun, our house is so quiet and I honestly hate it. It's always fun to go out with friends but my favorite nights really are at home with Rick and Emilee. I am so grateful for a wonderful 2011 and I am looking forward to what a year 2012 will be! We are so blessed to have such fun, supportive friends, a loving family, and most of all each other.

Happy 2012!

Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-27T17:02:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Eve at our house with Nick, Sara and Lance. We had Christmas Salmon for dinner this year (per Nick's request) and then mid afternoon we headed to South Arkansas to spend the rest of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Rick's family. Emilee enjoyed getting to spend time with lot's of family members (and getting LOT'S of gifts)

Santa Emmy (at Nana and Pops' house)

Emilee and Mommy

Check out her leg warmers

Family picture

Waiting patiently to open all of her presents

Cowgirl Emmy

Ariel, I mean, Emilee and Mommy

Daddy opening gifts

Emilee, the super hero

Ariel and Pappy

Emilee... I mean Ariel... I mean Lady Gaga : )

Doesn't she look lovely?

Ready for Santa to visit! While Emilee was sleeping we all watched TV and talked. I always enjoy going to El Dorado. Ricks grandparents have a beautiful, cozy house and they always making our visits so relaxing. Emilee also loves staying there too! I cannot say enough how WONDERFUL our Christmas was this year! We are truly blessed with wonderful family and friends! Emilee LOVES Christmas and every thing we did was so new and exciting with her, I cannot wait for many more holidays with her. She is truly a joy to us! We thank God for her every day!

Christmas Eve Eve 2011

2011-12-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

Sara and Lance arrived Friday late afternoon and as soon as they got in to town they gave Emilee her new princess kitchen. After that, we decided to open the rest of our presents to each other.

Emilee in her new sock monkey hat from Sissy

Opening presents from mommy and daddy

Lance got Rick toilet paper, bread, and light bulbs - because that is what Rick told him he wanted : )

Uncle B (Nick) got Emilee all of the Princess Barbie Dolls - she was so excited!

Such a sweet, happy girl! We had a wonderful Christmas Eve Eve, after we opened gifts we visited Santa and ordered a pizza for dinner. Sara and I went shopping and shared a cookie and coffee at Barnes and Noble. Nick and Lance went to a movie and Rick put Emilee to bed. Then we all met back up at our house and watched movies. We had a nice, relaxing evening.

Goodbye to Sissy and Clancy

2011-12-27T16:38:00.000-08:00

My sister and brother in law came up to spend Christmas with us (they live in Louisiana) and we had 4 wonderful days with them. Emilee loves her "Sissy" and "Clancy" so she always enjoys their visits. Sara is one year away from finishing nursing school and then hopefully they will move closer to us! We always have a lot of fun when they are around!

Lance, Emilee, and Sara

Me and Sara

Sara, Me, and Nick - we are missing Kyle : (

Christmas Day 2011

2011-12-26T15:19:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Here are some pictures from Christmas day, and for some reason they are out of order, but that's okay.

Emilee with her Mimi and Pappy

The whole family !

Emilee and aunt Shari

Emilee and her great grandparents

Emilee and her Mimi

Santa brought Emilee a bike!

Emilee feeding her Bitty Baby, Cinderella. dressed as Ariel

Emilee and Uncle Wes

Emilee and daddy

Emilee and Mommy

Family picture

Our sweet girl !

Emilee loves her new bike!

Santa brought a princess castle!

Santa also brought a bike!

Emilee was so excited when she woke up on Christmas morning! We had a wonderful Christmas and we are truly blessed with much more than we deserve!

A Christmas Program, Breakfast with Santa, and a Baby Shower for Cam!

2011-12-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

This past month has been busy, busy for our family! Here is a quick recap on what we have been up to lately...

Emilee had her first school Christmas program! Her class sang, "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and the whole school sang, "Feliz Navidad" it was very crowded with loving parents and family members and it was a wonderful show!

In fact, Emilee's Pops, Nana, Pappy, Mimi, Uncle Wes, and Uncle Nick all came to see her performance!
She was especially happy to see Pop's!

Emilee sitting on Santa's lap, she told him that she wanted a dollhouse

She's on that stage somewhere!

Last weekend I helped host a shower for my dear friend, Jessica, and her baby boy Cam! We are all anxiously awaiting his arrival in January! The shower was in the color of Cam's nursery and everything was precious!

I am especially proud of the veggie tray that my darling husband prepared for me- I am a lost cause!

Lot's of yummy treats!

Adorable cake!

Some of the presents!

A few Saturday's ago, Rick and Janson took Emilee and Victoria to have breakfast with Santa at the community center - they had pancakes!

The girls had fun playing with paper airplanes

They also had fun running around the community center! I am so glad to be off of work for two whole weeks! Emilee and I plan to organize the house and RELAX! I already got one big project done today - cleaning out Emilee's room! We are counting down the days until Christmas!

Christian's 3rd birthday party!

2011-12-18T06:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to the Wonderplace to celebrate Christian's 3rd Birthday Party! Christian's mom, Lisa, works with Rick and she is a wonderful therapist who has been a great role model and teacher to Rick. We were so happy to be invited to share Christian's big day with his family!

Emilee also LOVES the Wonderplace!

Emilee and Daddy
Emilee and Mommy

She loves the train table!

Playing with Christian!

Once this elephant mask went on, I thought we were going to have to take it home - she wore it pretty much the rest of the party

light table

grocery shopping!

Me and Rick
Christian's awesome Veggie Tales cake! Emilee thought this was the coolest thing ever!

ready for some cake!

Happy Birthday Christian! We love you!

More of Chippy's antics...

2011-12-18T05:58:00.000-08:00

Our Elf on the Shelf, Chippy, has been very busy... Here are the places we've spotted him over the past two weeks...

Building a fort with Emilee's legos

Playing Candy land with some of Emilee's toys

Riding in Barbie's convertible with a snowman!

Reading a book to some friends

Getting tied up in toilet paper after TP'ing our tree

Hiding in some flowers in Emilee's room

Taking a bath in Emilee's dollhouse

Whisking some skittles

Coloring a picture in Emilee's coloring book

Hiding out in the top of the tree

Climbing on a vase

and making snow angels! Chippy has been busy at our house!

Chippy the Elf

2011-12-07T17:58:00.000-08:00

Chippy the Elf has been at our house since last Sunday... Emilee LOVES waking up each morning to search for him! Over the past few days he has had some wonderful adventures:

On Monday morning: Chippy the Elf was caught eating breakfast at Emilee's spot!

Later that day, he was on the mantle with a few friends!

Tuesday: Emilee found him hiding in her stocking, she wrote a letter to Santa and gave it to Chippy to deliver. Her letter said, "Santa, I invite you to my friends"

Wednesday: Chippy made himself a little bed under the Christmas tree! He was sleeping with a little lamb!
When we got home after school Emilee couldn't find Chippy - we spotted him in a vase on the mantle.

Emilee is really enjoying having Chippy around this Christmas!

Our Elf on the Shelf

2011-12-04T13:15:00.001-08:00

Today we received our "Elf on the Shelf" on our front door straight from the North Pole! Santa sent him and when Emilee woke up from her nap, he was here! Emilee happened to see the new "Elf on the Shelf" movie the other day so she was already familiar with this magical elf.

The first thing we did was open the box and read the book that came with it.

Step 1 is to name the Elf. He doesn't have any magic until you name him. Emilee wanted to name him "Chippy" which is what the elf's name is in the movie. I asked her if she was sure that was the name she wanted and she insisted. Haha

Chippy is magical and you cannot touch him or his magic will go away

He flies to the North Pole every night to report to Santa if Emilee was good or bad and then he comes back and first thing in the morning you have to find him.

Emilee decided to put him on our mantle for today. I wonder where he will be tomorrow?

We are excited to incorporate this fun new tradition in to our family! I know we will have many years of fun with Chippy!

5 year Anniversary

2011-12-04T06:09:00.001-08:00

Friday evening Rick's parents came to stay with Emilee so that we could have a date night for our five year wedding anniversary! I still can't believe we have been married for FIVE years! Time flies by! We didn't have any BIG plans... just dinner and a movie. I honestly hate dates on Friday night because we are both so tired from the week, but we wanted to go out on our anniversary. The traditional anniversary gift for five years is wood. Rick and I talked about what to get each other and we came up with the idea of writing each other a love letter and putting it in a wood frame. Rick said that we would keep them on each of our end tables so we can read them before bed or first thing when we wake up in the morning. I thought this was the best idea ever!

Rick's letter from me

My letter from Rick

First we went to dinner at Kobe because we wanted hibachi and sushi. It was delicious. We decided to go see a movie next but we had about an hour and a half to kill before the movie so we went to Starbucks and then walked around Best Buy.

We decided to see a movie at Market Street Cinema... we couldn't find anything that we wanted to see at the other theaters or that we hadn't already seen so we found a cool Indie movie and enjoyed that. We were the only people in our theater for the 9:00 showing of "Take Shelter"

Market Street Cinema is cool because they show a a lot of documentaries, foreign films, and independent films. They also serve beer and wine. haha!

We loved the movie we saw! At around 11:00 we crawled home from pure exhaustion! We are not night people anymore! haha

Saturday afternoon we went to lunch with Rick's parents and Wes before they headed back to El Dorado. Wes took these adorable pictures of Emilee which I insisted he send to me : )

Such a little diva!

This is FINALS week for Rick, so pray he gets through it with his sanity! I only have 2 weeks left for my class and then we have the whole month to relax! yay!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-26T07:05:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! Now, looking through all of these pictures I realize that I didn't take nearly enough! Here is what I was able to capture...

Our 20 pound turkey... we still have lot's of leftovers!

How cute is this hat? Sissy and Lance brought it for Emilee and she loves it!

Rick getting the turkey ready to go in the oven... he always helps me with the turkey, we enjoy cooking Thanksgiving dinner together.

Family picture before going to aunt Jo's

Daddy and Emilee

Mommy and Emilee

Rick and Wes with their hats from Pappy

Emilee saying "cheese"

Emilee and her Mimi

Emilee and Bo - she wouldn't leave him alone the whole day

She really does love him

Back to our house for dinner round 2

Rick always has to mess with me

carving the turkey

Ready to eat! Nick, Sara, and Lance joined us for dinner. We had a good time black Friday shopping, going out to eat and playing games while they were here. Of course, they are all anti-picture, but I will get them next time!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did! We have so much to be thankful for this year!

Last weekend fun!

2011-11-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was a 4 day weekend! It was wonderful and relaxing. Emilee enjoyed being at home with mom and dad.

Eating a sandwich in the car

Last Sunday Emilee woke up feeling not so great so we stayed in our PJ's and made homemade playdoh!

This is the recipe we used... I had to adjust the flour a little... but it was easy and it works great!

Emilee played for a long time

She hid a plastic spider in her play doh : )

Emilee was being a bride : )

She also made her "E" this weekend! So proud!

In other news... Saturday morning, Rick took Mr. Big to the vet

cat anxiety

He was trying to hide from the vet : )

This weekend will most likely be relaxing as well... Rick and I both have some school work to do and we have some busy weekends coming up with the holidays around the corner. We are looking forward to Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Our 5 year Wedding Anniversary, and several weeks of Christmas festivities! I looove this time of year!

Have a great weekend!

Boo at the Zoo

2011-11-10T16:11:00.001-08:00

The Saturday evening before Halloween, Rick and I took Emilee to "Boo at the Zoo". It really wasn't that great, but we talked it up so we had to take her. She had a good time though.

Emilee and daddy... in line!

Emilee and Mommy... still in line!

Looking at all of the costumes (while in line)

Petting some furry friends...

and some not so furry friends.

She only saw a few animals - the zebra's were the best.

She liked all of the Halloween decorations

and the games

But, most of all, she liked the carousel!

She got nervous and wanted to sit with daddy - so sweet : )

The next afternoon we worked on these gifts for Emilee's two favorite teachers... yes, I found this idea on Pinterest.

It was yummy... we had some at home too! You should never forget your teachers around the Holidays, they sooo appreciate your kind gestures : )

Until next time!

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

I was starting to think that I would make it to Thanksgiving without posting Halloween's pictures... so, glad I didn't do that!

Halloween this year was a 4 day event.. that's right, we know how to celebrate the holidays. Friday was low key... Emilee wanted to drive around and look at "Spooky Houses" so we did that for a while and then Rick and I went home and watched "Paranormal Activity 1" and "2" while Emilee was in bed... I didn't sleep for days after that.

Saturday we went to Boo at the Zoo... that post is coming up next

Sunday we went to a church carnival with two of our favorite couples and their children. Monday we went Trick or Treating since it was actually Halloween : )

Here are the pictures for Sunday and Monday : )

Emilee and Hayden... Emilee's ghost costume was in the laundry so she decided to go to the festival as Snow White... Hayden was of course, Frankenstein!

Victoria and Emilee

Emilee was super pumped about the balloon animals!

See how patiently she was waiting?

Tricycle obstacle course

This was the part of the day when Frankenstein had to rescue his damsel in distress

Emilee and Victoria checking out Emilee's loot

Snow White, Minnie Mouse, and Cinderella

Emilee at school on Halloween

Getting ready to Trick or Treat!

This was the first Halloween that I didn't get to choose Emilee's costume. She wanted to be a ghost, and I could not convince her otherwise... no matter how hard I tried : )

Excited kids!

Emilee loved riding in the wagon with Harper!

Two ghosts!

We had a wonderful Halloween this year... Emilee doesn't understand that the next Halloween is 365 days away... it's gonna be a long year : )

Emilee's lunch box

2011-10-30T19:11:00.001-07:00

Every day Emilee takes a lunch box to school...

and every day Rick or I draw Emilee a picture for her lunch box...

Her current interest is people dressed up like food or animals.

Rick is especially talented, here are a few of his recent drawings:

The hot dog man

The Donut Man

And the Ice Cream Man...

Emilee has such a wonderful daddy : )

Emilee's weekend in El Dorado

2011-10-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

Emilee went to El Dorado this past weekend to spend some time with her grandparents and great grandparents. She got to stay up late, eat pizza, watch movies, go to a pumpkin patch, and go to the circus. A little spoiled maybe?

Nana and Mimi took some pictures for me...

Cute little Kitty Cat!

Emilee and Pop's going to the circus

Mimi, Pappy, and Emilee

Mimi and Emmy

Pappy, Mimi, Pops, Emilee, and Dora

After getting her face painted at the pumpkin patch

Pappy pushing Emilee on a tire swing

Emilee decorated her pumpkin

Eating popcorn

Pappy and Emilee at the pumpkin patch

Emilee riding a pony

Silly girl

Fun at the circus

Emilee loves going to Nana's house

I know Emilee had a blast... she hasn't stopped talking about her fun weekend!

I am so glad that she has so many wonderful memories with her grandparents already!

Fall Festival 2011

2011-10-22T15:42:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday night was the Fall Festival at "Emmy and Mommy's preschool" Emilee loved it just like she does every year that she attends. Emilee + games + Halloween decor = fun : )

She got her face painted... but wouldn't let me spray paint her hair pink! haha

Jumpy castles!
She waited in line patiently for a balloon animal

Eating with daddy!

Funny girl!

Family picture - I look tired here... and I was... working 7:30am until 7:00pm is not the life for me haha... we had a good time though! Only one more week until Halloween! Emilee is so excited she can hardly contain herself!

Have a great week!

New things...

2011-10-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

When I took Emilee to school this week... I found this gem hanging in the hallway...

Yes, this is my daughter, Emilee's first ever self-portrait : ) such a proud moment for this mommy!

To create her self portrait, my child spent time looking at her facial features in a mirror and then she would practice, and then draw what she saw.

Patient teachers + natural talent = : )

Personally, I think she did a fantastic job!

Such a cute girl!

Speaking of things that are created... I made this wreath for our door last night... clearly I was avoiding the mountain of Statistics homework that I have looming over me!

A wedding, the dentist, and Emmy's lunch surprise!

2011-10-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

This month has been BUSY! and it hasn't slowed down yet... I really do not see us getting a break until Mid- December, and then we will be busy celebrating the holidays!

It's all fun though : )

Last Saturday night, Rick and I went to the wedding of Brian and Brittany Dunaway : )

We had a great time hanging out with our friends! The wedding was beautiful and the reception was fun - just like Brit!

I took pictures... and most of them looked like this... fuzzzy! So...

This is the only one that turned out clear and I don't really like it, but, oh well.

In other news... this week was Emilee's first DENTIST appointment!

To say that it was a complete failure is the understatement of the year!

I can say the only part that she liked was the waiting room...

This was her last happy moment of the appointment... She literally was hysterical the second that the dental hygienist put on gloves and a mask. She did let the dentist count her teeth and look at them. He said her teeth look great and we will try again in 6 months...

On Wednesday, Mimi and Pappy came up to Emilee's school and ate lunch with her. She was excited to show them her school. Even better, they checked her out for the rest of the day so she got to spend some time with them! Thanks Mimi and Pappy!!

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we went to the Pumpkin Patch. The first thing we saw when we got there was this Mini-Horse... Emilee was immediately in love.

This was her first time riding a horse/pony without us walking beside her. She did great.

She had so much fun!

Emilee riding "2K"

She could not leave this Mini-Horse alone, she wanted to take it home with us.

Emilee and Mommy

Emilee and Daddy

pumpkin patch time!

Can you imagine her expression??

The perfect pumpkin!

what a handsome man!

Emilee wanted this one!

team work!

I just love this girl! We always have so much fun at the pumpkin patch! This year was hot and crowded, but we still had a good time!

Random October Pictures

2011-10-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

I found a few pictures on my phone from the past week that I wanted to remember...

This has a story behind it... Emilee is at the school that I work at this year, she is not in my classroom, but she does come down to my classroom everyday at 2:30 when the children go home and she plays while I work in my room for a bit and then we head home. Well, this school year we added a "Practical Life" work zone. Practical life is a term used in Montessori classrooms and is aimed at providing exercises that help children gain independence, adapt to society, and develop coordination. We started practical life in our classroom by adding a basket of Emilee's baby clothes with buttons, zippers, and snaps because this is something that some of our 3 year olds would benefit from. Well, Emilee noticed the clothes the day that I put them out and every day she would put something on (let me remind you, these are newborn and some 3-6 mo outfits). Each day a new outfit would end up at home, and the basket would be less-full then the day before. Here she is modeling some PJ's which I am confident are in my house currently. Emilee did a self portrait in her classroom last week and we had some "homework" to go with it... these are her original, and brilliant, answers.

In the block zone of my classroom Emilee assembled these horses as illustrated above... When I asked her to tell me what they were doing she said they were "babies and horsey dads"... genius kid! She likes to ride on Rick's back... like he is a horsey : )

at "chip and dip" last Sunday after church

Donuts with Mom last Saturday morning...

So blessed to be the mother of such a sweet, loving, creative, and happy child! I hope that Emilee is like that forever.

Cinder- Emmy

2011-10-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

Today Emilee and I went to Walmart after school. She always wants to look at the Halloween stuff, so we walked over there and found some princess costumes for $9.00. Emilee had to have a Cinderella costume.

As soon as we got home, she had to dress up...

After that we went to Academy with Uncle B...

Cinder-Emmy wanted to look at bikes.

After that we went to dinner at Buffalo Grill. Rick had class so it was just Nick, Emmy, and me. Buffalo Grill was pretty slow that evening, but we were next to a table with at least nine women having a good time. When the waiter brought me Rick's to go order, I asked for our check and the waiter informed me that one of the ladies bought our meal. She came over and told me that she thought my daughter was so precious she wanted to buy our dinner. So one day Emilee will read this and know that she was so cute that random people bought dinner for her!

Such a funny kid!

September pics

2011-09-24T12:19:00.000-07:00

This post is just a random compilation of pictures I took on my Iphone during the month of September. I just wanted to share them mainly so I would have them to look at later. September has been a busy month...

First full month of Rick, Me, and Emilee in school... wow!

Emilee is really in to Halloween this year... She found this ghost at the Dollar Tree and had to have him... we have his friends too

Emilee at Pre-K... with Pink Baby

Playing in Mommy's classroom : )

Playdoh in Mommy's classroom... making mustaches!

Being a superhero at the grocery store

Cheesing it up at Ihop

FINALLY!! getting a small shopping cart at Kroger!

First lunch date with Daddy at Pre-K

Being silly at Chick-Fil-A (or "Chicken" as Emilee calls it)

Too cool!

Emilee loves ghosts and Frankenstein but has a fear of Yoda?? I don't get it... she said, "He is not my friend"

Speaking of ghosts... Emilee's Halloween costume... she is ready for October 31st... over a month early

She wanted to take a picture so that Sissy could see the outfit she bought her the other day : ) such a sweet girl!

The Princess Show

2011-09-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last night we took Emilee to go see Disney Live! Three Classic Fairy tales at Verizon Arena. We pass the Verizon arena billboard on the way to school everyday and we usually catch the advertisement for the show, so Emilee has been looking forward to this for months. She wanted a Snow White dress for the show - the tag said for 3 year +... look at my tiny 3 year old.

It was so cute, when we were walking up these three little girls were taking a picture together and they all had Tinkerbell dresses on and when they saw Emilee they said, "Look! it's Snow White!" Emilee just waved to them... she thought she was the real deal!

Emilee and Daddy

Emilee and Mommy

Our little Snow White!

She was ridiculously excited!

The stage
narrators - Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy

Snow White and the Seven dwarfs

Cinderella
Intermission
Beauty and the Beast

The Beast
More Beauty and the Beast...

The funniest part of the whole night: the whole time we kept asking Emilee if she had to go to the bathroom because she didn't go before we left the house. Emilee is completely potty trained but sometimes when she is busy she will wait until the last possible second to go, and wont always make it. Of course, she refused to move from her seat. Finally at intermission she agreed to go and Rick decided to take her because we thought the men's room would be less crowded. When they got back, I asked, "How did it go?" and Rick said, "Her panties are in my pocket" I almost fell on the floor laughing. She didn't quite make it to the potty. Oh well, live and learn.

Emilee's white pumpkin

2011-09-22T20:00:00.001-07:00

Last week Emilee and I went grocery shopping after school one day and she was elated when she discovered that the store had a display of small pie pumpkins in the produce area.

She had to have one.

Several days went by and the pumpkin lingered around the house, when all of a sudden an idea stuck her!

She wanted to paint the pumpkin white!

A princess has to paint in proper attire, right?

She worked really diligently

and voila!

She has a few ideas of what she would like to do next... first she said a ghost face then she said a scary spider, so, we will see what she decides to do.

Someone is ready for Halloween...

Birthday Parties for two friends!

2011-09-22T19:46:00.000-07:00

We had a very busy weekend, complete with two wonderful birthday parties for two of Emilee's dear friends. The first one was on Saturday morning and was for Emilee's friend from her old daycare named, Alexa (Lexi). Lexi and Emilee have been together since they were little infants. They were in the same daycare room at the Little Rock facility and then they both moved out to Maumelle around the same time when they were one. Emilee was so excited to see some friends from her old school! Lexi had her 3rd birthday party at the Wonderplace.

Sooo happy!

Caitlyn and Emilee - both daycare friends.

Silly girl

Playing puppets with daddy

playing puppets with mommy

Puppet show with Lexi

Emilee thought she was a lion... but was actually a giraffe, and then became a king.

Caitlyn and Lexi

Only this man can "mean mug" in a crown : )

On Sunday, Emilee's dear friend, Vicki T had her 2nd birthday party. Her party was at her house and it was a "Minnie Mouse" party which Emilee LOVED - she is all about Minnie Mouse right now. It was a lot of fun!

Victoria and Emilee smiling for the camera... how cute is this??

Emilee playing on V's new swing set

Such a happy girl with such wonderful friends!

Last weekend at the pool

2011-09-08T19:29:00.001-07:00

Our community pool closed over Labor Day weekend. So, the weekend before we made it a top priority to visit the pool one last time before it closed. Emilee was excited, but doesn't really realize that it will be closed soon. We practically lived at the pool this summer.

Such a big girl!

Emmy and Mama

Swimming with daddy

Eating M&M's and Cheetos - her favorite snack bar treat.

Daddy and Emmy!

So long summer... we will dream about you around Mid February!

Labor Day Weekend 2011

2011-09-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to El Dorado to spend Labor Day with Rick's family. We went down there Saturday morning and came home around 1:30 on Monday. Sunday was Rick's dads birthday so we celebrated his birthday while we were there too. I didn't take that many pictures, but we had a nice relaxing weekend. Saturday evening, Rick and I went to see "The Rise of the Planet of the Apes" - I had little desire to go see it but it was actually really good. Rick and I did some school work, read, watched movies, played cards, ate, slept, and watched T.V. It was the perfect weekend. The weather was a lot cooler than it has been in months, and it was a little drizzly down there, but overall pleasant.

Here are a few pictures of our weekend...

Emilee pushing uncle Wes on her tricycle

Emilee posing with the bear that Pappy made for her - Mimi helped!

Playing cards

We went to a local playground on Sunday evening

Monday afternoon it was so beautiful here we wanted to take Emilee for a walk on the "Big Dam Bridge" It's only a couple of miles from our house and it goes over the Arkansas River, it is really pretty on a nice day.

Such a wonderful family picture - I'm the only one that looks happy : )

Emilee loves to chase Uncle B (Nick)

Emmy, Daddy, and Nick

of course we had to have dinner at "Chip and Dip" (El Porton)

Yay for the short week... which is now almost over! woohoo! tomorrow is Friday!

Emilee's Pre-K open house

2011-08-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

Emilee had open house at her new preschool on Thursday! Rick brought her up to my school to meet her teachers and see her new classroom.

Daddy took her to McDonald's first

looking at all the new materials

She loved dramatic play!

and the light table : )

She came down to my classroom too!

We are so happy that Emilee will be in Pre-K 3 this school year! I am looking forward to hearing about and seeing all of the new things she will learn. I really love the curriculum at our program and I am excited about all of the small group work that she will get the opportunity to be a part of. Monday is the first day of school!!! yay!!!

Last day of daycare

2011-08-13T07:57:00.001-07:00

Emilee's last day of daycare was on Thursday. She brought flowers and cookies for her classroom. When we got there, her teacher said they were going to have a party on Friday, so Rick said he would bring her by for that.

Emilee and her teacher, Mrs. Margie

Emilee and daddy

Emilee and Mommy

Family picture

Emilee and Ms. Stacey, the director

Emilee and Ms. Doris

Emilee and her friends

Friday afternoon, Emilee went to the party at the daycare with her friends

Caitlyn and Lexi - Emilee's good friends

We are happy that Emilee was well taken care of at her daycare, but we are so excited that she is getting the opportunity to go to Pre-K. I know that this is a better choice for her and she will be more than ready for Kindergarten!

A poem written by a 3 year old...

2011-08-06T10:44:00.001-07:00

If you are around Emilee much, you have probably had the pleasure of meeting "Pink Baby" at least once or twice. "Pink Baby" is her beloved pink teddy bear that she got as a gift two hours after she was born and they have been best friends ever since. Nick and Sara bought her in the hospital gift shop and who would have thought Emilee would love her so much. Many other stuffed friends have been Emilee's "favorite" but none have lasted as long as "Pink Baby". She goes to daycare, the store, to restaurants, and Emilee sleeps with her every night and every nap. Yesterday morning Emilee climbed in to bed with Rick and I around 7:00am and I asked her to describe "Pink Baby". Her thoughts were made in to this precious poem...

Pink Baby

My favorite baby

She is pink

Is this her nose?

no.

She's not mean, she's nice

I love her

She's got brown on her

can we wash her now?

She smells good to me.

- Written by Emilee Wilson, 8-5-2011

Three year olds are among some of my favorite poets!

Our summer day

2011-08-03T12:21:00.001-07:00

I wanted to have a record of a typical summer day with Emilee, so when she is 16 and wants nothing to do with me, I will remember how much fun we used to have. : )

These are all Iphone pics... so sorry about the quality

Our mornings usually started like this... Emilee waking up at around 6:30am and going in to the living room and watching TV with Rick and eating breakfast with him. Then he leaves for work around 7:00, and Emilee comes and snuggles with me in the bed.

She usually watches some sort of cartoon while I attempt to sleep in a little longer... this usually doesn't work.

Yesterday since it was predicted that it would be ridiculously hot, I decided to get up and get us to the store around 8:00, so that it wouldn't be too hot. It was still too hot at 8:00am!

Emilee wanted some cherries and was so happy that I found some.

Kitty HAD to go with us

When we got back home, I read this book...

and took these notes for work : ) I am enjoying my week off from grad school and decided to do some reading for work instead.

While I was reading, Emilee decided she was brave enough to watch "Sleeping Beauty" even though she is scared of the witch and the dragon. She ate her cherries for snack. I was shocked that they had seeds, I have never eaten a cherry in my life. No worries though, apparently she was aware of the seeds and made a nice pile of them on my coffee table.

At around 11:00 she and Mr. Big decided to take a nap. I was going to continue reading, but took a nap instead.

When she woke up around 1:30, she decided that she was ready for lunch.

Harper and Hayden came over to play. It is nice to have friends that live nearby and stay at home with kiddos or that teach like I do.

After Harper and Hayden went home around 4:40, Emilee decided that she did want to paint

She painted this masterpiece of snakes while I cooked spaghetti

Rick, Emilee, and I all ate our spaghetti.

We decided to go to McDonald's and get an ice cream cone. The drive thru line was long, so we went in. The first thing Emilee spotted was the Happy Meal Toy display full of Smurfs. She isn't aware of these blue characters, but she knew she had to have one. Instead of throwing a fit when I explained to her why we would not be buying a happy meal today, she was calm. The manager was so impressed with her maturity, that she gave her a Smurf.

She was this happy!

We went home and daddy gave her a bath. He does this just about every night.

Emilee wanted to play in her pajamas for a while before bedtime. She played with her dollhouse, and she was so proud because she put her t-shirt on all by herself for the first time!

At around 8:00, it was bed time and daddy read her, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Speedy Turtle" Her two favorite books right now.

After the two books, they said prayers, brushed her teeth and she happily slept until 6:30 this morning!

Two more days of summer vacation... then my baby starts Pre-Kindergarten!!!

Emilee goes to Seussical

2011-08-03T12:17:00.001-07:00

Nana and Pop's wanted to take Emilee to go see "Seussical" in El Dorado the weekend of her birthday party. So, she went home with them after her party and the next day I met them to pick her up. She was so excited about seeing "Cat in the Hat" and "Horton" - she talked about it all the way home.

Emilee and Pop's
Emilee and Nana

She had a great time! She is really in to seeing live shows right now, I hope this continues!

Interview with Emilee

2011-07-31T15:11:00.001-07:00

I saw on a mom blog that I read the idea of interviewing your child. I thought about it, I interview my preschoolers all the time, I should interview Emilee and see what kinds of things she has to say : ) Of course, in true Emilee fashion, she did not disappoint...

I took these princess pictures of Emilee the other day and wanted to share them...

Me: What is your name?

Emilee: Emilee Isabella

Me: How old are you?

E: three

M:What is your favorite color?

E: Pink

M: Who is your best friend?

E: Mommy

M: What is your favorite animal?

E: a doggy * this answer surprised me considering we are a dog-less family : (

M: What do you want to be when you grow up?

E: A scary ghost * I have no idea what this is all about

M: What is your favorite movie?

E: Tangled * she is currently terrified of Mother Gothel and would rather go to the doctor than watch this movie right now.

M: What is your favorite book?

E: The Witch's book * No clue what book she is referring to

M: What makes you happy?

E: Daddy

M: What makes you sad?

E: Daddy

M: What is your favorite food to eat?

E: Bananas

M: What is your favorite song to sing?

E: Veggie Tales

M: What games do you like to play?

E: jumping in puddles of leaves, a giant candy cane, rainbows

** She never ceases to amaze me, such a funny kid!

My girly girl

2011-07-27T20:58:00.001-07:00

My dear, sweet Emilee...

Such a serious girl...

A happy girl...

a creative girl...

a funny girl...
Such a girly girl

I took these pictures of Emilee when trying to create the perfect Rock Star Party birthday invitation. These are some of my favorite pictures of Emilee... if you came over to my house right now, you would see several framed. I hope that Emilee never loses her love of accessories and fashion...

I wonder when we need to start talking about allowance?

She has actually told me recently that she is indeed a princess... I suspected this, but hearing her announce it melts my heart.

Emilee and Mommy day : )

2011-07-25T18:56:00.001-07:00

We are in the final days of summer vacation... I will be going back to work soon and Emilee will start Pre-K 3! We are so excited for the fun year ahead, but I am going to miss our lazy days. I wanted to do something fun with Emilee today so we planned to go to the Wonderplace to play. She had her birthday party there, but it was real busy and I didn't get to spend much time interacting with her in her play, so I wanted to go back. It was so hot today, we were happy to play inside some where cool. I talked her in to leaving "Pink Baby" in the car, so I wouldn't have to carry her around, so as soon as we got there she wanted to play with animals.

She went to the vet clinic first...

She decided that her first patient would be this grey rabbit

looking at X-Rays

At this point she said, "Look! I see a skeleton" genius!

Then she wanted to play at the train table. She loves trains.

My favorite center at the Wonderplace is the cool water table

silly girl

making a sandwich...

dressing up like a pirate

She was really excited about this!

They always have an art activity for the day and today was to decorate your own apron

After we left the Wonderplace we went to Barnes and Noble - Emilee loves Barnes and Noble, or the "train place" as she calls it because of the train table in the children's book area

We shared a big cookie and some milk

We had to play at our second train table of the day

At the end of the day, Rick got home and I made dinner. While I was making dinner, Rick and Emilee were playing superheroes and taking care of baby aliens.. you know, normal stuff : )

My 27th Birthday

2011-07-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

I had such a wonderful birthday this year! I didn't document the whole weekend with pictures, but I did manage to get a few.

First, my dear friend Kim started my birthday weekend off right with a fun day planned on Friday. Our original plan was to take our kids to daycare and go to the pool. Yes, on occasion we dream of the days where we can take a book to the pool and our kids will play... those days are not for a while though, so a day at the pool without kids seemed like a good idea. We ended up not going to the pool though, and that was okay too. Instead she picked me up and we went to Mardel to laminate some stuff for her classroom. haha. This actually was fun, maybe it's a teacher thing. Then, we went to lunch and then got manicures and pedicures. We followed that up with some Hobby Lobby shopping... we are wild, aren't we? It was a wonderful relaxing day.

Saturday morning Rick and Emilee woke me up with breakfast in bed. They got me donuts from Shipley's and a Mocha from Starbucks. That evening, we went to dinner with my brother Nick and my sister Sara. We went to El Porton, my favorite restaurant : )

Me and Emilee

Me and my sissy

After dinner we went back to our house for cake.

me and Emilee

Me and Rick
Rick and Emilee

me and Rick again

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream cake from Baskin Robbins... my fave

After cake, my sister gave us a great gift - she babysat Emilee so that Rick and I could go out with some friends. We went to Yaya's and sat outside and listened to a cover band. It was fabulous, the weather was wonderful and it was fun to catch up with old friends!

oh, 27 is going to be a great year!

3 year old check up

2011-07-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

Emilee had her 3 year old check up on Monday... here are her stats:

Height: 35 inches (9.54%)

Weight: 28 lbs (21.66 %)

She is still our little girl : )

The doctor was really impressed with her verbal communication and counting. She also did a great job on her vision screening!

She was such a good patient!

Emilee's 3rd Birthday Party

2011-07-17T08:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was Emilee's 3rd birthday party! We had it at the Wonder Place and we did a "Rock Star" theme. Several of our friends and family members were able to attend and everyone had a great time. Here is a recap with pictures...

Cupcakes!
The table

Guitars, microphones, glasses

The party room

The guest of honor arrived... here with her Pappy

Some of Emilee's gifts

Her friend, Caitlyn

Mommy and the birthday girl

Family picture

Emilee with her friend, Lexi

Posing

Alyce, Kim, Harper, Me

Emilee and Madeleine

Aunt Shari, Uncle Wes, Denise

Mimi and Pappy

Jo and Jeral

Peyton doing a little painting

Emilee decided to finger paint

Christian painting

Victoria the artist

Emilee blowing out the candles

Eating a cupcake

Mattinglee arrived!

Hayden looking cool!

Aidan singing!

Victoria and mommy singing

Harper and her Deda

Emilee giving uncle Wes some love

opening presents at home

Aunt Shari, Nana, and Pops with Emilee!

Emilee had an amazing birthday party. She was so fun and excited about everything this year. I will definitely remember this birthday forever because Emilee was old enough to really enjoy it. I still cannot believe that my baby is 3 years old! These 3 years have flown by and I cannot imagine what our family will be like 3 years from now. Emilee has been such a blessing to us all and Rick and I learn more from her each day. She has truly changed our lives and we are so thankful for her. Thank you to all of our family and friends that helped make her birthday so special this year. She had a great turn out at her party and we all had a lot of fun!

Happy 3rd Birthday Emilee!

2011-07-14T20:17:00.001-07:00

Today my beautiful girl turned 3 years old! We had a great day celebrating with her!

When she woke up she said that she wanted noodles for breakfast... yes, noodles! So, I let her pick out the "noodles" that she wanted and she happily ate them.

Being a silly goose! Later on Hayden and Harper came over to play, I didn't take any pictures, but they had a lot of fun.

Emilee's presents from mommy and daddy and Uncle Nick!

She was pretending to cry like a baby...

Being cute!

Picture with Sissy!

Picture with mommy!

Family picture

picture with daddy

She wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese so that is where we went. We had pizza and played lot's of games. She loves going to Chuck E Cheese.

She was dancing with him here.

After Chuck E Cheese we came home and she opened presents...

She got lot's of good stuff: furniture for her doll house, a Barbie, a guitar, clothes and 4 DVD's, and some other little stuff

This is the last home made cake I will ever make... it looked terrible. It tasted yummy, but looked ridiculous!

Emilee blew her own candle out for the first time ever! I can honestly say this has been the best birthday - she was soooo EXCITED! She opened her own presents, blew out her candle, told us things she wanted... such a big kid now... makes me realize those baby days are coming to an end! Tomorrow we will be getting some more things ready for her Rock Star Party on Saturday with our family and friends. Also, I get my car back tomorrow yay! Thank you to everyone who wished our girl a happy birthday! Love you all!

Cousin party

2011-07-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

On Monday Rick's family planned to have a get together or a "cousins party" as they called it. It was just for the women of the family and the kids. So, bright and early on Monday, Emilee and I went to Benton where we hitched a ride with Rick's great aunt Jo and Madeleine and Aunt Shari and went to El Dorado for the day. I was glad Jo offered to let us ride with her : ) Emilee was excited to be in the car with Madeleine!

I bribed my sister to take us to Benton (since my car is still not finished) with Starbucks. Emilee didn't want anything to eat or drink but she did want a bracelet : ) such a girl!

On the road with cousin Madeleine - Emilee thinks that she is the coolest!

Happy girl! Madeleine took this picture!

Playing

Being silly... I can't believe my baby will be 3 tomorrow!

Eating lot's of yummy food

picture time...

All of the kiddos!

We didn't make it out of El Dorado and this girl was already snoozing!

Rick has an amazing family and I am so blessed that he chose me to join in on all of the fun!

lazy summer

2011-07-08T10:38:00.001-07:00

Emilee and I are spending week 2 of our summer vacation with no car... my car will be done next Friday, hopefully. I am regretting my decision of turning down a rental car, but I really probably wouldn't use it that much anyway. Luckily, my sister is staying with us for the summer and my friend Kim is nice enough to take us places with her. I had a few pictures on my phone from this week that I wanted to share.

This one cracked me up! Emilee came over to me and said "Mom, im gonna play soccer" Rick plays soccer every Sunday and he wears his socks over his shin guards. Well, Emilee hates it when her socks aren't rolled down perfectly, so this was funny because she wore them this way and made the connection of daddy playing soccer, brilliant child.

We have had Miss Harper Lynn over at our house for about an hour every day this week while her big brother goes to swim lessons. She is a hoot! Emilee was putting her in the closets yesterday and playing "hide and seek" with her.

Look at that beautiful, uncrowded pool! Yesterday was a bit cloudy but Kim and I took the kids to the pool anyway, and it was the perfect day! It wasn't too warm or sunny and it was empty! Loved it!

Emmy eating a snack after swimming.

This is her "I'm happy" face. She tells me all the time, "look mom, I'm smiling. See, I'm happy" Such a mess! I can't believe this precious baby will be 3 years old in 6 days! She is so excited about her "Rock star Party" next Saturday!

4th of July weekend

2011-07-07T08:10:00.001-07:00

First off I would like to say that we had a wonderful 4th of July weekend and I did a terrible job of documenting it. Here is a recap of our weekend:

Friday: When Rick got off work we went to Purple Cow, Emilee's request

Saturday: I don't really remember what we did, Rick had some work to do and I had school work. I know we grilled for dinner and Nick came over

Sunday: We left for El Dorado around 1:00. Wes rode with us, so Emilee was excited about that. Pop's grilled and we played a card game.

Monday: we left at 10:00 am to go to Doyline, Louisiana to celebrate the 4th of July with Rick's dads side of the family at his uncle Jay's house. Most of his family was there and Emilee had fun playing with Anna. We left a little after 3:00 to try to make it to Maumelle in time to watch the fireworks. Of course, we made it in time, parked, and then Emilee FREAKED out! Apparently she decided that she hates fireworks this year. This was also the first year they let us shoot fireworks, so she had to put up with our neighbors shooting them all night.

Tuesday: Rick got the day off, which was wonderful. We just went grocery shopping and cleaned the house. It was a nice, relaxing change after driving a lot on Monday.

Like I mentioned, I was terrible at taking pictures this weekend, but I did get a few of Emilee on a horse. Rick's uncle Jay has several horses and Emilee was so excited to see them.

This was when she mentioned that she needed a cow girl hat.

Pappy gave her his hat.

Smiling little cow girl!

Emilee's Summer...

2011-07-02T13:38:00.001-07:00

This is a compilation of pictures that I found on my cell phone and Rick's cell phone... I just wanted to share them.

Blowing bubbles

Going to Starbucks

Going to the pool

Grocery shopping
Shopping

Falling asleep before daddy finishes the book

Playing with Harper

Having a purple milk shake

Ahhh... I love summer time!

Father's Day 2011

2011-07-02T11:00:00.001-07:00

This post is a little late... but here is a recap of our Father's Day...

Emilee and I woke up early and made Rick breakfast in bed. He wanted waffles, eggs, and bacon. I had never cooked bacon before in my life but I did it, and it turned out fine.

Emilee made Rick a poem with her hand print on it at daycare, so I framed that and wrapped it up. We also made him an apron. Also, he needed some new t-shirts to wear at work this summer so we got him 5 t-shirts and a polo shirt.

Breakfast

Rick being silly. We grilled steak and baked potatoes that night. Nick and Sara ate with us too. Then we went out and got some frozen yogurt.

Such a good daddy - Emilee adores him!

Emilee's little hand print!

We are so blessed to have such wonderful fathers and grandfathers in our life! We love you all!

Emilee goes roller skating!

2011-06-12T17:53:00.001-07:00

As of Tuesday my summer vacation has officially started! Emilee and I have had so much fun together so far! We have been at the pool a lot, laying around the house, cleaning, watching tv, spending time with friends. Yesterday we went to the 3rd birthday party of one of Emilee's friends from daycare. Emilee talks about Caitlyn all the time and they have been together at daycare since they were 1.

It was a skating rink party, which I was a little unsure of, but Emilee loved it. We had such a fun time!

Daddy putting on Emilee's skates

Emilee and Caitlyn riding around in the big roller skate

Emilee skating

Emilee and daddy

Emilee and Mommy skating

Emilee and mommy again

getting the hang of it

Emilee trying to skate with real skates

jumping in the bounce house with Landon and Caitlyn

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Caitlyn

eating a cupcake with her buddy Landon

We had a great time! We will definitely have to go roller skating again soon!

Hayden's 5th Birthday Party

2011-06-05T09:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Hayden's 5th birthday party - it was at Jump Zone and he had a legos theme, it was so cute! It seems like yesterday that he was a newborn!

The cake was perfect!

Emmy and daddy - she was so excited, she kept saying, "Im not scared anymore" haha

Emmy and mommy

Going down a slide

so happy

so brave

Kim and our girls - Harper and Emilee

Hayden and his cousin, CJ

Harper and her daddy

Emilee played so hard, she was hot! She loved the birthday hat so much, she wore it to Walmart

Hayden blowing out the candles

The birthday boy! Happy birthday Hayden we love you!

Rick has been in a soccer tournament and this morning at 9am he had a game, so Emilee and I went to cheer him on. It was miserably hot already, and the grass was wet, and their were bugs, so after about 10 minutes we headed back home.

We are going to enjoy the rest of our weekend at the pool and grilling out. Only 2 more days of work! woohoo!

Memorial Day Weekend 2011

2011-05-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

We spent Memorial Day Weekend with Rick's side of the family at their fishing "resort" in Felsenthal, Arkansas. We had a great time! We got to spend some time together with family, relax, eat great food, and enjoy the outdoors. We also celebrated Rick's mom's birthday. Here are some of our pictures from the weekend -

Emilee's first ever 4 wheeler ride

Then she had to ride in Pappy's jeep!

Me and Rick on the 4 wheeler

Rick being cool in a fish hat

family picture - on the way to the Bream Festival... country....

Awww : )
Emilee and daddy

Another family picture!

Madeleine on the rock climbing wall

Emilee had to have this Spiderman... her Pappy got it for her

Emilee's Spiderman and Madeleine's puppet

dancing with Spiderman

Time for Smores!

yummy!

Pops found a turtle - Emilee was obsessed!

Ready to go on the boat!

walking with Mimi

Such a diva!

Walking with daddy!

More family pictures

Emilee and her Mimi

on the boat

on the boat with Pop's and Mimi

Emilee fell asleep before the boat ride was even over

After everyone left, the real fun began haha

Emilee and Spiderman

Daddy and Emmy and Spiderman on the boat

Finally... the pool opened!

Daddy and Emilee swimming!

We had a wonderful weekend! Only 6 more work days!!! yay! : )

the past few weekends...

2011-05-22T10:35:00.001-07:00

The past few weekends have been super busy, but fun. Last weekend we got to see our friends, Reuben and Jodie and sweet Maggie. They were in town seeing family and friends. We went over to Maggie's grandparents house along with the Seach's to let our little girls play.

The funniest thing was watching them ride their 4 wheelers - they were so cute!

Emilee and Maggie were racing!

They also liked relaxing in the hammock and playing on Maggie's new swing set

It was hard to get all 3 girls looking at the camera - can't believe a 4th little girl will be joining soon! Sooo happy that Victoria Seach will be a big sister!

Last Sunday we took Emilee to Chuck E Cheese - mainly because she asked a lot and we promised that we would soon. She loves all of the games and little rides. She also loves to see Chuck e Cheese walking around. She ran up to him and gave him a huge hug.

She thought this was hilarious - I know she went on it at least 6 times.

Yesterday afternoon my brother wanted to check out a new driving range out here, so we all went along for the ride. Emilee's favorite part was definitely all of the golf balls all over the place.

Emilee had to get in on some of the action...

Daddy teaching her...

"I can do it by myself" - words we hear all of the time now : ) such a big girl!

Only 11 work days left until Summer!!!

Mother's Day picnic

2011-05-09T17:38:00.001-07:00

Sunday afternoon we went to the park to have a picnic! This was our first official family picnic and the weather was perfect. We went on lot's of picnic's growing up and it was always something I enjoyed and knew that I would do with my children. My dad loved to take us to the park and go fishing, ride bikes, play catch, throw a frisbee, and fly a kite. Some of my best memories as a kid consist of us doing these things. Luckily, Emilee loves all of these things as well! The weather was warm but breezy - BEAUTIFUL day!

Emilee and daddy

Emilee and Mommy

Emilee and daddy getting lunch ready

This mama duck and her ducklings came by to visit us - Emilee was fascinated!

Sweet baby!

Playing "soccer" with daddy

Playing frisbee

Playing catch

She loves this park - great swings and slides

swinging with daddy

sliding with daddy!

So grateful for my family this Mother's day! Hope everyone had a wonderful one!

Mothers Day 2011

2011-05-09T17:12:00.001-07:00

I woke up on Sunday morning at approximately 9:15am to breakfast in bed served to me by Emilee and Rick. Emilee even said, "Happy Mother's Day Mom" which was so sweet.

Of course... here is my ultimate gift in life - Miss Emilee Isabella Wilson

She wanted to go in my gift bag : )

Emilee made me this at daycare... her hands are still little

Rick and Emilee got me a new planner (a BIG one) is what I asked for (I write really big and I wanted to be organized for school-which starts Monday), some Sharpie Pens, and a Starbucks gift card

They also brought me breakfast in bed - so kind. I had a wonderful Mother's Day - we had a picnic at the park and sushi for dinner with my brother at Kobe and then dessert at Yogurt Mountain - a day full of fun and food : ) I am so blessed to have my family!

the "bra" and other things...

2011-05-07T10:20:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time (in 2008) I gave birth to a baby girl...

Thinking that with my background on child development and Rick's background as an incredible, calm, social worker we would be "those parents"... you know, the laid back, liberal, non-spanking, honest, independent child raising ones?

Well, Emilee found her coconut shell top from her birthday party hula outfit and decided that it was a bra...

a bra that she would indeed wear to dinner and to bed under her pj's that night...

no harm done right? it was just us at home. That was until she and Rick were walking out the door to go to school and I saw bright pink strings hanging out the bottom of her tshirt... hmm... I decided to intervene as I didn't want any questions at pick up time that day about my 2 year old and her bra. I talked her into wearing a tank top under her tshirt instead and that worked... for now. I then put the bra in a drawer that she may not find for a while... How do you let your child be independent and free while still conforming to the standards of society? hmm... for now I think we are safe.

Also, in unrelated news...
look at what the crazy storms did to our newly done flower bed last week? Luckily that was the most of our damage... and some roof damage... please pray for those who had it much worse and still continue to!

Muffins with Mom

2011-05-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

Mother's day weekend is off to a great start! Yesterday morning I took Emilee to daycare so that I could attend "Muffins with Mom" with her. We sat and ate a muffin together before I had to go to work.

She was excited, mainly because Rick is usually the one who takes her to daycare and I always pick her up.

My sweet girl!

Last night I went to the movies with Kim, Alyce, and Brittany. Years ago we all read Emily Giffins' book Something Borrowed

We actually used to talk about if they made it a movie who we would cast for which characters... so it was a given that when the movie came out we would actually go see it.

It was soooo good! Definitely go see it and definitely read the book! Also, read the sequel, Something Blue - and let's all keep our fingers crossed that they make it into a movie also! Alyce and I actually agreed that we liked Something Blue even more! Im currently downloading them to my Nook so I can read them both again. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, I know I am!

Special shout out to 3 of my favorite women: My mama, My mother in law (Lauri) , and my grandmother in law (Tricia) - love you all so much!

Favorite vacation spots!

2011-05-07T09:20:00.001-07:00

One of the blogs that I love to read is doing a "Show us your life" series on favorite vacation spots - since we are currently trying to plan a little summer getaway I decided to participate in this. You can find Kelly's Korner here http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2011/05/show-us-your-life-favorite-vacation.html

One of my all time favorite places has to be the lake. Really, any clean, large lake... Most people may think that is lame, but I grew up going to the lake every summer and it has to be one of the best quick, easy getaways...

we love to go tubing, wakeboarding, kneeboarding, skiing, you name it...

Of course, it is always more fun with friends!

This past March Rick and I were fortunate enough to go on our first ever cruise! It was definitely my FAVORITE vacation to date! In the past I never thought I would ever want to go on a cruise - the idea of being "lost at sea" terrifies me and I was nervous about getting sea sick - luckily none of that happened and I hardly noticed how far from land we were. It was the best vacation for us because we wanted something that took little planning, we were looking for a vacation with "no schedules" a cruise is perfect for that because you can do as much or as little as you want. Go on one! Today!

Cozumel, Mexico
Progreso, Mexico
One of the first trip Rick and I ever went on together was to visit my family in Seattle, Washington - I love Seattle! It is beautiful there!

On top of the space needle!

Pike Place Market

city skyline (from a ferry ride)

Redondo Beach

The best food!!!

Our second trip was for our wedding - in Las Vegas, Nevada!

I wish we had more time there but we got married the week before finals (what were we thinking?) in between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Vegas is so much fun and we will definitely go back soon!

In front of the Paris Hotel

In front of the Bellagio

The past two years I was lucky enough to go to Santa Monica, California with work. I absolutely LOVE California! I cannot wait to go back for a long, fun trip! I have only been able to see bits of Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, and Hollywood - But I want to go to Laguna Beach, and San Francisco someday.

I love, love Santa Monica!

In front of the pier

we had several celebrity sitings! (at the Spirit awards)

Another all time vacation spot is Myrtle Beach! I went on a girls trip the summer before I got pregnant with Emilee and it was definitely one of my favorite vacations. Myrtle beach is gorgeous - the beach, the town, I love it!

You can't really beat a girls trip can you? Even if your luggage goes missing?

Scary Storms

2011-04-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures of the 3 of us huddled up in the closet - possibly due to pure fright or due to the fact that we had no electricity... but an hour later (and thanks to Entergy) our lights were back on and it was safe to leave our (hot, crowded) space...

This little one opted to stay in as she was exhausted...

Thank God all of our family and friends were okay after the storms we had this week... is it summer yet?

Emilee's goals

2011-04-26T17:22:00.001-07:00

For those of you that know Emilee well, it is no surprise that "sleeping" has been less than easy for Rick and I these past 2 1/2 years. But, things are looking up! When Emilee was an infant, Rick and I made a few mistakes when it came to bed time - 1. we always rocked her to sleep, and if she woke up we rocked or held her until she fell back to sleep (repeat steps 3 or 4 times a night) What resulted in our "sleep issues" was a 2 year old that was unable to fall asleep on her own and even worse a child unable to doze back to sleep when woken in the night. This led to many sleepless nights for Rick, Emilee, and myself.

This came in stages of course:

1. Baby infant Emilee sleeping in our bed

2. Baby infant Emilee sleeping in her bouncy seat (4 months later...)

3. 5 month old Emilee sleeping in her bouncy seat in her pack and play in our room

4. 6-7 month old Emilee falling asleep with us, then moving to crib, where she would then wake up and we would have to start over

5. 1 year old Emilee sleeping in our bed full time only after falling asleep on one of us in the living room, then having to be a ninja just to get her in the bed without waking her

--- insert--- sleeping on the couch or living room floor

6. 1 1/2 year old Emilee sleeping on a mattress in our room only to end up in our bed

7. 2 year old Emilee sleeping in her room in her bed but only if she believed we were sleeping on the floor next to her (which resulted in Rick or I sleeping in her room most of the night)

8. Now... FINALLY!!! our bed time routine is:

8:00pm (or earlier some times) brush teeth, lay in bed, read 2 books, say a prayer, and mommy and daddy leave the room - Emilee goes to sleep on her own! At first she woke up several times through the night... but we started a sticker chart and it really has helped. She doesn't understand the idea of a reward after so many stickers... the sticker is her own reward and she says that she is "proud of me"

We also added 2 other things that have been difficult for her (mainly in the morning when we are getting ready to leave)

So, as you can tell, last week in our house Emilee excelled at sleeping in her bed, getting dressed, and brushing her teeth.

We are already laughing at all of those sleepless nights... we are so proud of our girl!

Hopping down the bunny trail...

2011-04-26T17:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday evening we got home from El Dorado and immediately went to Walmart - I knew that I had no contact solution at home. We got some other things but now I can't remember what they were. We gave Emilee a bath and shortly after that she went to bed. Rick did some school work for a while and I cleaned up and then went to bed. Sunday morning we intended to go to the Easter sunrise service, but 6:45 did not work out for us this year. We were happy to wake up at 8am and find this...

The easter bunny made a stop at our house just for Emilee...

She was super excited! Mainly because she got a new...

Swimsuit.... which I had to explain to her that she could not wear to church...

A little dress, a color book, some jelly beans... a perfect Easter basket for a sweet girl. We did make it to church at 9:30 and it was PACKED full of people. Later that afternoon my brother Nick came over and brought Emilee another Easter basket - we also grilled steaks and got some frozen yogurt. We had a wonderful weekend!

Easter in El Dorado 2011

2011-04-25T14:18:00.001-07:00

Saturday morning we went to El Dorado to spend Easter with Rick's mothers side of the family. The weather was beautiful - it was the perfect spring day.

Emilee got a basket from Wes and Denise - complete with jewelry - she loved it!

She looked so cute!

Picture with dad

picture with mom

Family picture

Uncle Wes wearing the bumblebee costume that came with her easter basket - Emilee thought it was hilarious

Time to dye eggs with Pappy and Dad!

She loved holding the eggs

Mimi hid the eggs in the back yard for her

Daddy and Mimi helped Emilee find all of the eggs. We stayed until that evening and then went home. We had a great trip complete with lot's of yummy food! It was a wonderful Easter!

Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes 2011

2011-04-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Friday evening we took Emilee to Verizon arena to see Disney on Ice: Princess Wishes. It was so cute! It was for boys and girls - but you could tell the girls had a ton of fun dressing up and seeing all of the different princesses. We went with our friends Janson, Rachael and Victoria.

When we first got in we went to the "Princess Pre-Show". They had different sets for each princess and had her bedroom and different memorabilia from the movie. We got to see two different princesses -

We saw Princess Tiana

We even saw Cinderella!!!

Emmy and Mommy

Emmy and Daddy

I think Rick had the most fun!

Beauty and the Beast

The little Mermaid!

We had a wonderful time and it was the perfect show to take Emilee to!